Frank Sinatra announces the launch of the 'Reprise' record label
The farthing, a coin in use since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the U.K.
The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba
John F. Kennedy is formally elected as the 35th President of the United States
The French people vote to grant Algeria its independence in a referendum after seven years of guerilla war.
Author Dashiell Hammett dies aged 66
The first Italian space rocket is launched
Motown Records sign The Supremes to their first recording contract
Patrice Lumumba, ex-premier of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is executed by firing squad
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States of America
A B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashes in the U.S.A.
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, is seriously injured in a head-on collision in Los Angeles
'The Pill' brand-named 'Conovid' becomes available in the U.K. on a limited basis
The Soviet submarine S-80, with a crew of 68, vanishes in the Barents Sea
Marilyn Monroe is granted a divorce from playwright Arthur Miller
Ham, a 37lb male chimpanzee, is sent into space aboard a test flight for Project Mercury
James Meredith, an African-American, applies for admission to the all-white University of Mississippi

The government announces plans to build the Post Office Tower
The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola
Sputnik 7 is launched by the Soviet Union
The first automatic half barrier is introduced on a level crossing in Uttoxeter, Staffs
The first issue of the Sunday Telegraph is published
Danny Blanchflower is the first person to refuse to appear on 'This Is Your Life'
The BBC announces that it is to drop 'Children's Hour' from radio in April. It started in 1922
The Beatles play their first engagement as 'The Beatles' in the Cavern Club
The Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand (ZAR) becomes the official currency of South Africa
The entire United States figure skating team die in a Boeing 707 crash in Belgium
Singer Jackie Wilson is shot in his New York apartment by 28 year old Juanita Jones
Kennedy appoints Henry Kissinger as a National Security Advisor
Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco

President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps
Artist Pablo Picasso, 79, marries 35 year old Jacqueline Roque
The Soviet Union makes its first successful test of the V-1000 anti-ballistic missile system
Carline introduce the first minicabs, in Wimbledon
George Formby dies aged 56
The British soap opera Coronation Street is fully networked by ITV
Flying an X-15, U.S. Air Force Captain Robert White becomes the first person to exceed Mach 4
Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham dies
The first US Polaris submarine, USS Patrick Henry, arrives at Holy Loch in Scotland
Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender
'Ken', a doll to accompany 'Barbie', is introduced by Mattel at the American International Toy Fair
A dam bursts on the Dnieper river in the USSR - 145 dead
The 22,349 foot high Himalayan mountain Ama Dablam is climbed for the first time
Hendrik Verwoerd announces that South Africa is withdrawing from the British Commonwealth
Albert DeSalvo, 'The Boston Strangler', is arrested while trying to break into a house
A charity concert in Hawaii is Elvis's last live appearance for nearly 10 years
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
The Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, leader of Iran's Shiite Muslims, dies aged 86

Shirley Bassey has her tonsils removed at The London Clinic
Thalidomide goes on sale for the first time in Canada
Forty biblical scrolls are found in a cave in Judaea
NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller signs the bill authorising construction of the World Trade Center
Graduated pensions are introduced in the UK
The United Nations votes 83-0 to censure South Africa over its racist policies
British passenger ship MV Dara explodes off Dubai, leading to the deaths of 238 passengers and crew
The last of the Los Angeles streetcars is retired
The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem
27 year old Major Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to safely orbit the Earth
Former Private 1st Class John A. Bennett is the last American serviceman to receive the death penalty following a court-martial
The ill-fated Bay of Pigs 'invasion' of Cuba begins
Russian spy George Blake is charged under the Official Secrets Act
The 17th century ship HMS Vasa is raised in Stockholm harbour after 333 years
Robert Noyce, founder of Intel, is granted the first patent for an integrated circuit
An unmanned American Atlas rocket is destroyed by ground control 40 seconds after launch
Sierra Leone is granted independence from the United Kingdom
Luciano Pavarotti makes his operatic debut in a production of La bohème at Reggio Emilia
The Union of African States is created as Mali joins the existing union between Ghana and Guinea
Westward Television becomes the holder of the independent television franchise for SW England
Soviet submarine K-19, the first Russian nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned.

Gene Vincent is the first American star to appear on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'
Off-course betting is legalised following the passing of the Betting and Gaming Act
Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space in a 19 minute sub-orbital 'hop'
Tottenham Hotspur achieve football's first League and Cup Double of the 20th century
Newly-elected M.P. Tony Benn is refused entry to the House of Commons due to his peerage
38 year old spy, George Blake, is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment
The B-52 Stratofortress enters service in the United States Air Force
Actor Gary Cooper dies aged 60
Do Young Tsang takes power in a military coup in South Korea
The new Guildford cathedral is consecrated
Lionel Bart opens his own publishing company, Apollo Music, in Shaftesbury Avenue
Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet, by-passing Venus
Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law to restore order after race riots
Toni Gardiner from Stratford marries King Hussein of Jordan
President Kennedy announces his goal to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the 60s
A fire at Ember Records in London destroys their tape collection
Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated
The Union of South Africa, formerly part of the Commonwealth, becomes the Republic of South Africa

The birth control pill is introduced in West Germany, as Anovlar
SS Canberra, the largest British liner built since WW2, departs Southampton on its maiden voyage
John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev talk about nuclear tests and disarmament in Vienna
Carl Gustav Jung dies aged 85 in Kuessnacht on Lake Lucerne
The Duke of Kent marries Katherine Worsley at York Minster
Rudolf Nureyev, 23, defects from the Kirov Ballet at Le Bourget Airport in France
Actor Jeff Chandler dies following emergency surgery
Britain ends its protectorate of the oil-rich sheikhdom of Kuwait
A stone with the name 'Pontius Pilate' on it is found at an Italian dig in Caesarea
Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet
USAF Major Robert M. White becomes the first person to fly an X-15 plane faster than one mile per second (3,600 mph)
and the first to exceed Mach 5
U.S. philanthropist George Vanderbilt is found dead at the base of a skyscraper in San Francisco
African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela issues the manifesto 'The Struggle Is My Life'
Dr. Arthur Michael Ramsey becomes the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury
The British army send troops to protect Kuwait, under threat of Iraqi annexation
An Australian Census shows a population of 5,333,179

Bill Harry publishes the first edition of 'Mersey Beat' pop newspaper
Diana Frances Spencer , future Princess of Wales is born
British troops land in Kuwait in anticipation of an attack by Iraq
Author and adventurer Ernest Hemingway shoots himself
The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched
John Profumo, the British Secretary of State for War, is introduced to Christine Keeler at a party
Defector Lee Harvey Oswald requests the return of his U.S. Passport in the Moscow U.S. Embassy
Lech Walesa, aged 17, begins work at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, visits Britain
The Basque separatist group ETA carries out its first act of terrorism by sabotaging a train
The first regularly scheduled in-flight movie service begins on a TWA flight from New York to Los Angeles
Gus Grissom, in Mercury 4 'Liberty Bell 7', is the second American to orbit the Earth
A mini-budget puts 4d on cigarettes and 3d on a gallon of petrol
French MPs introduce legislation to ban rock concerts
The IBM Selectric typewriter is placed on the market by International Business Machines

M.P.s approve Britain's application to join the Common Market
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, is born in Honolulu, Hawaii
Gherman Titov becomes the second Russian into orbit
The Fantastic Four team of superheroes is introduced by Marvel Comics
Queen Elizabeth II makes the first visit to Northern Ireland by a UK monarch since 1690
Britain formally applies for membership of the EEC
Construction of the Berlin Wall begins with the erection of a barbed-wire fence
The Brandenburg Gate is closed at 1:00 pm by East Berlin police
A 5ft concrete wall replaces the wire between East and West Berlin
Jomo Kenyatta is fully released in Kenya, nine years after his arrest
Francisco Goya's 1812 portrait of the Duke of Wellington is stolen from the National Gallery in London
Western powers place tanks and 1,000 troops along the Berlin Wall
In the A6 murder case Michael Gregsten is killed at Deadman's Hill near the village of Clophill, Beds
The earliest Roman mosaics in Britain are discovered at Fishbourne
The first launch of a 'Minuteman' missile from an underground silo at Cape Canaveral ends in failure
The Soviet Union announces the end of a three-year worldwide moratorium on nuclear testing

The Renault 4 is the first 'hatchback' car
The TUC expels the Electrical Trades Union for ballot rigging
Richard Nixon, future President of the United States, makes a hole-in-one at the Bel-Air Country Club
President Kennedy announces that the USA will also end its 3-year moratorium on nuclear testing
France's President Charles de Gaulle escapes an assassination attempt to blow up his car in transit
A Ferrari car crash in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza kills 15 spectators and driver Wolfgang von Trips
The World Wildlife Fund (now known as the World Wide Fund for Nature) is founded
The first Mothercare store opens in Kingston
850 are arrested, including Vanessa Redgrave and George Melly, as 15,000 'Ban the Bomb' marchers protest in Trafalgar Square
U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash
The Central Intelligence Agency begins moving into its new headquarters in Langley, Virginia
The Mini-Cooper is launched
Dick James opens his own music publishing company, Suite 2, in Charing Cross Road, WC2
Antonio Abertondo becomes the first person to swim the English Channel and straight back again
The Executive Committee of FIFA suspend South Africa from international football competitions
Sierra Leone becomes the 100th member of the United Nations

New, smaller 10 shilling notes come into circulation
The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand
The last steam passenger train is used on the London underground
Drummer Brian Bennett replaces Tony Meehan in 'The Shadows'
The first escape to the West is made in Berlin through a sewer running underneath the Berlin Wall
James Hanratty is arrested in Blackpool for the A6 murder
A volcano thought to be extinct erupts on Tristan da Cunha
Leonard 'Chico' Marx dies
Two new 'Mini' variations are announced - the Riley Elf and the Wolseley Hornet
Film director Zoltan Korda dies
All commercial flights in the US and Canada are grounded for 12 hours in order to conduct the NORAD exercise Operation Sky Shield II
Kuwait officially joins The Arab League as a full member - last British troops leave
The Beatles and Gerry and The Pacemakers temporarily join forces to play as 'The Beatmakers' at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool
The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb, 'Tsar Bomba', over Novaya Zemlya
The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published
Josef Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum and reburied outside the Kremlin
Hurricane Hattie hits Belize, killing 400, with 65,000 made homeless

Jimmie Rodgers is the first member elected to Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame
The government announces plans to introduce an Immigration Bill
Lenin's mausoleum re-opens after the removal of Stalin's body
United Artists announce the selection of Sean Connery to play James Bond in the film Dr. No
Konrad Adenauer is elected for a fourth term as West German Chancellor
France secretly sets off its first underground nuclear test explosion
U.S. Amateur golf champion Jack Nicklaus announces that he is turning professional
The Professional Golfers Association amends its constitution, ending membership only to white people
Brian Epstein sees The Beatles perform at the Cavern for the first time
Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny succeeds Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shelepin as head of the KGB
Ray Charles is arrested on drug charges in Indianapolis
The British Conservative government introduces the Commonwealth Immigration Bill
The first successful launch from an underground missile silo was achieved by the United States
The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is commissioned
West German manufacturer Grünenthal GmbH is the first company to take thalidomide off the market
The government issues a white paper outlining plans for the abolition of London County Council
Mercury-Atlas 5 is launched, with Enos the chimpanzee aboard, orbiting the Earth twice

Britannia Airways is set up in the UK under the name Euravia (London)
Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that Cuba is going to adopt Communism
The L.C.C. approves the building of 300ft tower blocks in Hammersmith
'The Pendletones' release their first record, 'Surfin' / 'Luau', as 'The Beach Boys'
Tanganyika gains independence with Julius Nyerere as its first President
The USSR severs relations with Albania
Brian Epstein becomes manager of The Beatles
Cliff Richard's film 'The Young Ones' premieres
Tanganyika (the future Tanzania) is admitted to the United Nations
An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences nazi Adolph Eichmann to death
Goa is ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule
The last legal execution in Ireland takes place as Robert McGladdery is executed for murder in Belfast
James Davis is officially, although not actually, the first U.S. soldier to be killed in Vietnam
The Soviet Passport office grants visas to Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife to travel to the United States
The first successfully hijacked aircraft lands in Havana after being diverted by its Cuban hijacker
The Empire State Building, tallest building in the world, is sold to a group of investors for $65,000,000
Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting
In Britain, major snowstorms blanket the nation, closing roads and cancelling New Year's Eve shows